SFMTA to begin utility relocation for Central Subway Project

Central Subway construction will take place on this block of Columbus Avenue near Washington Square Park.SFMTA

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency said that pre-construction associated with the Central Subway tunnel will begin on August 13 in North Beach. The work involves relocating utility lines on a half-block section of Columbus Avenue between Union and Powell streets.

The Central Subway tunnel is planned to extend past the last station in Chinatown to North Beach. When tunneling is complete, the tunnel boring machines will be removed from the ground on Columbus Avenue. The utility work is expected to take approximately four months to complete and is required to prepare for construction of the TBM retrieval shaft.

The Central Subway Project will extend the T Third Line from the 4th Street Caltrain Station to Chinatown, providing a direct, rapid transit link from the Bayshore and Mission Bay areas to SoMa and downtown. Four new stations will be built along the 1.7-mile Central Subway Project alignment, a street-level station at 4th and Brannan streets and three subway stations: Yerba Buena/Moscone Station, Union Square/Market Street Station and Chinatown Station.

The Central Subway Project is the second phase of the SFMTA's Third Street Light Rail Transit Project. The first segment of the T Third Line opened in April 2007, restoring light-rail service to a high transit-ridership area of San Francisco for the first time in 50 years.

The $1.6 billion project will be funded using a variety of federal, state and local sources, including $942.2 million from the federal New Starts program. Of the total New Starts investment, $92.4 million has already been awarded to the Central Subway Project in anticipation of a Full Funding Grant Agreement later this year.